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Below a partial transcript detailing comments made by Roger Penske pertaining to his failed acquisition of the Saturn brand during the Penske Automotive Group's (PAG) third quarter 2009 earnings call held this past Friday, October 30th.

Sharon Terlep from the Dow Jones Newswires: Auto magnate Roger Penske believed he was taking over General Motors' Saturn brand until the very last moments, when France's Renault shocked both Penske and GM by backing out of an agreement to provide vehicles. Penske addressed the failed deal Friday as he announced Penske Automotive Group's quarterly financial results.

Bryan Lavoilette from Michigan Live: Don't be surprised if General Motors' deal with Penske Automotive is back on within the next week or two. Penske backed out of its plans with GM to buy the ringed-planet brand when the automaker which was going to build its cars nixed the deal.

Lindsay Chappell from Automotive News: In the eleventh hour of Roger Penske's venture to acquire Saturn from General Motors to keep the brand alive, Renault's executive committee in France concluded, "Ca fait deux." Rough translation: "It's not going to come together." Despite Penske's statements that his organization had been in discussions with automakers around the world, ultimately his hopes had been pinned on only one: Renault.

Robert Snell, David Shepardson and Christine Tierney from the Detroit News: Some Saturn dealers hoped the deal could be revived and spare a brand that appeared to have been rescued this summer when Penske announced he had reached a memorandum of understanding with GM.

Andrew S. Ross from the San Fransisco Chronicle: For East Bay Saturn dealer Inder Dosanjh, it finally is the end. As the franchise representative for dealers in 15 Western states, he pushed as hard as anyone to keep Saturn alive. But GM's out-of-the-blue shutdown announcement Wednesday ended all hope. "I was very surprised. I was shocked," said Dosanjh, who always believed the brand would survive even as its parent shriveled.

Ken Bensinger and Tiffany Hsu from the LA Times: In a surprise development, General Motors said it would kill its Saturn brand after a deal to sell it to an auto dealership chain fell through at the eleventh hour. In June, GM formally announced that Penske had outbid other suitors for the brand and that the deal would save the 13,000 Saturn jobs, most of them at dealerships.

G. Chambers Williams III from the Tennessean: While dealers still hope Saturn might be saved, GM expects all the dealerships will be closed by the end of next year, if not sooner. Asked if GM would seek another buyer, Thomas Pyden, a GM spokesman, said: "I guess never say never, but our focus now is on implementing the wind-down agreements and working with our Saturn retailers to be as transparent and cooperative as possible through the process."

Greg Gardner from the Detroit Free Press: French automaker Renault and Japanese partner Nissan have been trying to strengthen their position in North America since forming an alliance 10 years ago, and Detroit businessman Roger Penske's vision for Saturn seemed to be a good fit.

Tim Higgins from the Detroit Free Press: On Tuesday, General Motors Co. thought it had a deal to sell its storied brand Saturn. But Wednesday afternoon, a day before the deal was to be announced, the Detroit automaker was blindsided by the news that businessman Roger Penske's deal to acquire Saturn had collapsed. The news sent shockwaves through the GM organization.

Random Article from the SaturnFans.com Archives

The Associated Press says that Saturn will begin offering some of its 2009 models with stereos that include USB ports later in the model year. "The new radios will allow customers to play music from iPods or MP3 players," writes the AP, "while charging many of the devices through a USB port like the ones found on most computers."